Following their strong performance in last year’s Lower Sixth Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, two Bloxham students were selected to be entered into the UK Chemistry Olympiad (UKChO). This competition is a unique opportunity for students to push themselves further and excel in the chemistry field.
The competition has a number of phases including a two hour paper in school, a training camp at the UK university for the top 30 students and the chance to represent the UK at the prestigious International Chemistry Olympiad.
Bloxham’s two students worked hard to develop critical problem-solving skills and their creative thinking, with thanks to Dr Limpkin for after-school training sessions, and Mr Evans and Dr Floate for their coaching. Both chemists got a chance to test their knowledge in new, real-world situations.
Huge congratulations to both students who performed amazingly well in a very demanding test and achieved gold medals. They are the first at Bloxham to achieve this.
Jasper, one of the award-winning chemists, commented: “Studying for the Olympiad wasn’t easy. We needed to dedicate time outside lessons to complete past papers and prepare ourselves for the difficult nature of the questions. I am very grateful for the support we had from Dr Limpkin who gave her time to help us with practice papers. The test itself was very challenging as I needed to apply my knowledge of chemistry to unfamiliar topics, meaning it really put my problem-solving skills to the test as much as my chemistry skills. I am very pleased that we both achieved gold awards as we put in a lot of effort to prepare for the test and all the hard work paid off. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to anyone considering taking part in it next year.”